Buckeridge demands approval to build at airport

Len Buckeridge . . . “Pleased to have right on our side.” Photo: John Mokrzycki
AFR

by
Natalie Gerritsen

West Australian construction magnate
Len Buckeridge
is demanding immediate approval to build on land at Perth Airport following a Federal Court ruling both parties claimed as a victory.

Mr Buckeridge’s company
BGC
sued Perth Airport, alleging it was blocked from building a modular housing factory on land subleased from the airport’s operator in 2006.

In a letter written on Friday and obtained by The Australian Financial Review, Mr Buckeridge asked airport executives what time he could send a staff member over to pick up the approval following the court ruling.

“We are pleased after a long, drawn-out litigation that we have been found to have right on our side and have an entitlement to build buildings on the land that we lease from Perth Airport for many years to come," Mr Buckeridge wrote.

In court, the airport’s operators claimed the proposed building was not compliant with its master plan, in which the land is earmarked for lighting to serve a future runway extension.

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In a judgment handed down on Friday, Federal Court Justice
Neil McKerracher
ruled that the airport’s master plan was valid, and the operators had the right to block development inconsistent with its content.

It was news welcomed by the airport.

“Perth Airport has successfully defended its ability to decide on applications for development based on consistency with the master plan," a spokeswoman said in a statement.

Perth Airport maintains that the proposed building is still inconsistent with the overriding and court-upheld master plan, so Mr Buckeridge’s request for immediate approval appears unlikely to succeed.

Perth Airport chief executive
Brad Geatches
had not seen the letter when contacted for comment on Monday but invited BGC to submit a new proposal.

“Perth Airport is both willing and obliged to consider all development applications on subleased land," he said.

“Perth Airport has been in ongoing discussions with BGC on a broad range of potential commercial solutions to a variety of matters relating to their ­sublease."

However, Justice McKerracher awarded a win to BGC on a separate legal point, ruling that there was no implied term in the sublease that gave Perth Airport the automatic right to install the lighting on the land.

It is understood BGC has interpreted this to mean Perth Airport must acquire the right to install the lights, likely through financial compensation.

Mr Geatches said the airport would take “whatever action is required" to install infrastructure required for the extension, which is listed in the master plan as a long-term, post-2022 goal.

Mr Buckeridge has also accused the airport of misleading conduct and is claiming financial damages. That issue will be the subject of a separate Federal Court hearing, although no date has yet been set.

Mr Buckeridge is Australia’s 17th richest person, according to BRW magazine, with a personal wealth estimated at $2.1 billion.